ZURICH.- For its 2012 exhibition programme, the Kunsthaus Zürich once again presents a combination of themes and big names, together with an insight into its expansion plans. Exhibitions such as Winter Tales or Deftig Barock, this one being curated by Venice Biennale director Bice Curiger, are joined by monograph presentations of Paul Gauguin and Christian Marclay. New trends on show for the first time in Swiss museums (Rosa Barba) alternate with some surprising revelations from the Kunsthauss own collection. The New Kunsthaus introduces the exciting new extension by David Chipperfield Architects to audiences both in Zurich and farther afield.

The 2012 annual programme of the Kunsthaus Zürich is now available. Interest in the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft has never been greater, with membership of the Kunsthauss patron association hitting an all-time record of 21,000 at the end of September. Anyone can join, and members enjoy unlimited access to the collection as well as all exhibitions for a fee starting at just CHF 30 per year.

THE NAHMAD COLLECTION. 21 October 2011  15 January 2012This exclusive exhibition features 100 masterpieces from a unique private collection that are being shown together in public for the very first time. Pablo Picasso is represented by a breathtaking selection of work from all phases of his career; but there are also Matisse, Modigliani and Kandinsky, with whole series of brilliant pieces; and Claude Monet, one of the ancestors of the modernist movement, with late, luminous images of his travels in the south. The presentation covers everything from Late Impressionism, with Renoir, Degas and Seurat, through Cubism and Abstract Art to Surrealism: Magritte and Max Ernst rub shoulders with an exceptional group of works by Joan Miró, for a truly astonishing tour of some great moments in modern art.

ALBERT WELTI  LANDSCAPE IN PASTEL. 16 December 2011  4 March 2012Albert Welti (18621912) was born in Zurich and studied under Arnold Böcklin. A master of pastel painting  a technique recognized since the 18th century  with a style very much his own, he was commissioned to produce a painting for the Council of States chamber of the Swiss Federal Parliament building. The 45 intensely coloured Post-Impressionist landscapes showcase the virtually irrepressible interaction of light and the human eye.

PICTURE BALLOT! ENCODING REALITY. 11 November 2011  12 February 2012The members of the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft selected Weltbild (1961)  the first work by Ralf Winkler (*1939), alias A.R. Penck, in which he develops his pictographic visual idiom. The presentation reveals links to works by Paul Klee, Joan Miró and Jean Dubuffet.

WINTER TALES. 10 February  29 April 2012A magnificent sleigh  possibly the most valuable in the world  is just one of the dazzling pieces included in Winter Tales. The exhibition, organized in association with the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, features over a hundred objects and images that reveal why winter was artists favourite season. With everything from burlesque Dutch scenes of fun on ice to frolics in a warm alcove bed, fur-clad courtesans to shivering farmers children, carnivals and Lenten fare, winter sun and snow flurries, no other season offers such a rich variety of artistic ideas in all fields, from applied art and painting to sculpture. An entertaining and informative tour guides visitors through four hundred years of arts and crafts with winter as their subject, from Breughel and the Dutch masters to the delicate whimsy of salon painting and the luminous masterpieces of Impressionism from the Musée dOrsay in Paris.

POSADA TO ALS. MEXICAN ART FROM 1900 TO THE PRESENT. 16 March  20 May 2012Mexican art occupies a special position in the international art world. Its central concern is moments of life and death that relate to Mexican history and are realized in the form of social and political landscapes. The Kunsthaus collection includes graphic plates by José Guadalupe Posada (around 18521913), one of Mexicos leading artists. His works are juxtaposed with pieces by contemporary artists such as Carlos Amorales (*1970), Teresa Margolles (*1963) and Francis Alÿs (*1959).

CHRISTIAN MARCLAY. THE CLOCK. 25 April  6 May 2012The Kunsthaus is delighted to present an exclusive: the first and only showing in Switzerland of Christian Marclays masterpiece The Clock, which was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale. Audiences in London, New York and Venice queued long and patiently to see this fascinating, 24-hour video work. A video collage made up of thousands of clips from thousands of films, it deals with time and clocks  but is also a chronograph in its own right.

ADRIAN ZINGG  PRECURSOR OF ROMANTICISM. 25 May  12 August 2012This is the first museum exhibition of an influential exponent of landscape between the European Enlightenment and Pre-Romanticism in Dresden. Adrian Zingg (17341816) was born in St. Gallen. He explored the countryside of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, painting numerous views of what has since become known as the Saxon and Bohemian Switzerland. Zinggs large-format sepia plates influenced an entire generation of artists, right through to Caspar David Friedrich and Ludwig Richter. His choice of motifs and interpretation of landscape influenced souvenir production in the early days of tourism.

DEFTIG BAROCK  FROM CATTELAN TO ZURBARÁN. ART FROM TODAY AND THE 17TH CENTURY. 1 June  26 August 2012In this exhibition, it is art that is deftig  powerful, substantial and dramatic  in its directness and vitality. The same idea comes through in the confrontation between works from two widely separated periods The exhibition sets out to explore an approach that, with artistically sensualist intelligence, at once proclaims proximity to life as a conception of vital exuberance and laments its loss; and that asks questions about what constitutes art itself. The Baroque is associated with dynamism, sensuality, extravagance and theatricality, with a move away from the quiet solemnity of classical forms; but also with an age of instability and the breakdown of established orders. The art of the period has only enjoyed universal recognition since the 1930s and 1940s. Curated by Bice Curiger, the exhibition features works by Pieter Aertsen, Valentin de Boulogne and Jacob Jordaens as well as Nathalie Djurberg, Maurizio Cattelan and Oscar Tuazon.

ROSA BARBA. 8 June  9 September 2012Rosa Barba (*1972) is one of the leading artists of her generation working in film worldwide. The Kunsthaus Zürich is the first museum in Switzerland to devote a solo exhibition to her work; and for it Barba is producing some new pieces that will be shown exclusively in Zurich. Barba uses film not only as an image carrier but also as a material for sculptural installations. These are intricate works in which analysis is strikingly combined with sensuality.

PAUL GAUGUIN. THE GRAPHIC WORKS. 28 September 2012  20 January 2013Paul Gauguin (1848  1903) is universally celebrated as one of the founding fathers of modern painting. Few are aware, however, that he left a small but diverse and innovative repertoire of graphic works, most of them woodcuts. Gauguin found in woodcuts the ideal expressive medium for his non-illusionistic style, with its emphasis on the plane. While his paintings often depict the carefree side of life in the South Seas, the woodcuts also reveal the unfathomable, nocturnal and demonic aspect of the tropical paradise. The exhibition presents the finest pieces from a private collection almost in their entirety, with some 60 plates of supreme quality and the utmost rarity.

THE NEW KUNSTHAUS. 5 October 2012  6 January 2013The Kunsthaus extension is developing rapidly. This exhibition, featuring largescale models and fascinating details, explains why the Kunsthaus is growing and how the concept of a museum for the 21st century is taking shape in the architecture of David Chipperfield. How will visitors be received, what impression will the space create, what services will be on offer  and, most importantly of all, what art will be on display? The curators will be introducing presentation concepts, bringing out works that, for reasons of space, cannot be shown until the new building is complete, and revealing new acquisitions that have already been made in anticipation of dynamic collection displays. David Chipperfield is creating spaces whose dimensions, equipment and lighting conditions are close to those of the future original. The Kunsthaus is keen to discover whether visitors will feel at home in the new building, and whether the museum of the future will meet  or perhaps even exceed  expectations. A contribution to culture by Credit Suisse  Partner of the Kunsthaus Zürich.

LATIFA ECHAKHCH. 16 November 2012  10 February 2013The French-Moroccan artist Latifa Echakhch (*1974) made her very first institutional appearance in the group exhibition Shifting Identities at the Kunsthaus Zürich. Now, a new solo presentation provides an opportunity to showcase some new works. Echakhch deals with political and cultural structures and systems. Adopting an approach that is both poetic and conceptual, she reflects on our prejudiced perception of the unfamiliar  of national and religious identities. She takes everyday objects from western or eastern cultural environments and places them in sensual, solidly material surroundings.